NottinghamForest have had a tumultuous time of it recently. After an excellent start to his career as head coach club legend Stuart Pearce was recently relieved of his duties. It came after a poor run of form which saw Forest drop down the Championship table.

The club immediately replaced Pearce with another former Forest player with ex-Bolton Wanderers manager Dougie Freedman taking charge.

This weekend saw the Scot take charge of the team for the first time. Forest travelled to Brighton and after initially going 1-0 down to The Seagulls they soon fought back, eventually winning the game 3-2 thanks to goals from Danny Collins, Henri Lansbury and Ben Osborn.

The success of Freedman in his first game will come as a shock to some, after his recent woes at Bolton. But he was a hit at Crystal Palace prior to that, where he worked with current Notts County manager Shaun Derry.

Now the two are of course city rivals, working on either side of the River Trent.

"He will bring an intent and an intensity.He will be very organised because he was as a player. Dougie is very precise. He's all about details.

"I worked with him as a coach at Palace under Paul Hart and I knew then that Dougie would be destined for management.

"I've spoken to him and he is a very proud man at the moment and is relishing the opportunity. Dougie has played for Forest and that will give him a head start. He knows what it means to be part of the Forest family."

Time will now tell if Freedman’s spell at Forest is more like his stint with Bolton Wanderers or Crystal Palace. He certainly seems to have an ally in the Meadow Lane boss who, despite his now rivalry with Freedman, seems to think he will be a hit at Forest.

Mathew Nash

I’m Mathew Nash a 27 year old graduate in Sports Studies and I have an insatiable love for sport. With a particularly keen interest for the madcap world of football I have always been known amongst friends as a beacon for bizarre sporting trivia and knowledge. My other passion is for writing and hopefully combining the two will create a superb and entertaining marriage that will create, divide and share opinion.Mathew is a correspondent for the NextGen Series, Ligue 1 and Primeira Liga.